A New Unknown
by Twisted Fate MK 2
Summary: On their way to Atlas, after a long day of fighting, the group begins to feel exhaustion take them. Setting down, they settle in for an evenings rest and a finished trip to Atlas the next day. But as they rest, an enemy unknown reaches to their world, in search of a 'new breed', and rips them from their home. Big thanks to Le Vampire for the beta! (Planning and Beta Hiatus)
1. First Contact, Part I

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"It's so pretty…" Ruby murmured tiredly as the Atlesian transport listed down and to the side, angling to land on a small island they'd scanned while they flew. Around them, the northern lights of Atlas glowed a fractal of colors, undulating like waves around them. Nervous, she asked, "The island will be… Safe, right?"

"Long as everyone stays calm and doesn't get scared? Or angry? Or upset, or anxious, or-"

"Maria…" Ruby glowered and the old woman smiled and waved her off in a gesture of 'it'll be fine'. With a sigh, the young Rose gave first her uncle and then, turning, her team a look. To the last they were asleep, curled up against each other or on the floor of the craft tiredly. "We all got so tired so fast… After what happened with the Apathy, I don't like that."

"Well, the Apathy can't fly, and there's no space on this for them to be hiding, so I think we're fine." Ruby hummed but didn't answer or relax, and Maria sighed. She'd been around them long enough to get to know their tells, and Yang always said a _quiet_ Ruby was an _anxious_ Ruby. "Look, as far as I know there aren't any Grimm that can fly and make people tired."

"But there is a flying mind controlling thingy?"

"There's only one that can affect the mind and fly, and it only pops up in Vacuo for some reason, and makes you angry. Not tired." That worked to calm her down and she smiled, relieved, and then nodded. Seeing her anxiety vanish, the woman sighed and said, "It's good to always be wary, Ruby. But getting sick over it is just stupid. We had a long day, and a big fight, and we're tired."

"And that's all. R-Right…?" Stupidly, she looked to Maria for that, and then flushed for the smile that stretched the woman's old face. "N-Nevermind, I'm sure it's fine. I wanted to get to Atlas tonight, though."

"Yeah, well, I'm old, tired, and the only one that knows how to fly this piece of frosty Atlesian crap." The old Huntress waved her hand at the control console as she spoke to make her point, the dials and gauges all as good as another language to her. "So you can just deal with it, unless _you_ wanna try and fly."

"I guess…" She still didn't like it, though, and Maria could hear it in her tired voice.

"Also, my eyes don't work as well in the dark as I would like, so we could hit something." Her eyes chose that moment to spark and sputter and she hissed in agitation, slapping her fist into it again and again. "Agh, these things! I swear I need to have them replaced."

"It's like they know when to act up just to spite you…" She laughed, pushing off the chair and stretching tiredly, finally letting herself yawn. It had been a fight this long just to keep her eyes open, presumably as the adrenaline faded out of her system and battle fatigue caught up. "I'm gonna lay down, then. Catch some sleep with the others."

"Wake me up when you wake up." Maria ordered simply as the ship shuddered to a landing and Ruby plopped onto the ground beside her sister, whose head had wound up on Blake's lap at some point. "Should only be a couple hours to reach Atlas come morning, and it'll be warmer out when we land anyway. Which is good, since some of you aren't exactly, well, wearing _sleeves_ or anything."

"Yeah, Blake's got torn up in that fight..." It sucked, too, because she'd _liked_ Blake's big white coat. She looked like some kind of cowboy that way, but she didn't dwell on it. Couldn't, even, her eyes were forcing themselves closed as soon as she laid against her sister's side. "G'night, Miss Maria."

"Good night, Ruby." The woman responded as the craft shut down and she relaxed in the chair, griping about her hips and shoulders all the while.

Regardless, the old Huntress quickly fell asleep. A moment later, just before Ruby joined her, she felt an odd shudder and caught a glint of gentle violet light washing over the cabin. But she was asleep before she could do more than register it happening, and didn't know anything else.

It was probably just the Atlesian lights… Right?

"_...New breed…"_

"Hmmph." Ruby whined against her sister's hot side and shifted, hot and sweaty in the heat inside the Atlesian ship. The woman shifted beside her in her sleep and Ruby whined, "Yaaaang. Be quiet, 'm tryin' to sleep."

"_...New breed, new potential…"_

"Yang, shush… Need my sleep..." Ruby whined more, rolling over and curling up with her face pressed against the cooler metal inside the craft. The blonde woman shuffled away from her, unconsciously trying to let her sister and herself sleep more, and Ruby sighed, "Das better."

"_...But where… Where are you, New Breed?"_

"In bed! Ya… Ya doof." She whined at whoever was annoying her, tucking her cloak tighter around her and curling into a tighter ball. "Ask me where we's at later."

Couldn't whoever that was tell she was trying to sleep, even as hot as it was in Atlas? Honestly, how rude of whoever it was, bothering her when she was trying to sleep. It was _so_ hot, and for some reason her head was hurting even though she was sleeping still, but she ignored both and settled in to _try_ and get some more sleep. A little more, she was sure, and she'd feel so much better, even if she wasn't really sure why her Aura wasn't doing it for her right now…

"Problems for future Ruby…" She murmured as she relaxed again and started to nod off back into sleep.

"_AWAKEN!"_

"Agh! 'M awake, Yang!" She squeaked, shooting upright on the floor and scooching back against the hull of the ship, looking around for whoever had shouted in her ear.

Looking around, all she could see through her sleepy eyes were her friends, all asleep and snoring, and the bright light coming in from the front window. Qrow and Maria had, at some point, gotten up and moved to sit on the floor like the two teams of teenagers, with their backs to their chairs and in Qrow's case his sword across his lap while he snored gently. It was honestly a kind of cute thing to see, and pulled a smile to her face when she spotted his flask up on the console where he'd put it the day before.

She was just so proud of him for letting that go, even if she _knew_ he'd never stop carrying the little silver thing.

"But why is so frickin' hot?" Atlas was cold enough that even Aura couldn't wholly protect you from frostbite, Weiss had told her. Even Argus had been brisk, and they were miles and miles north now, closer to Mantle than Anima. It was warm enough in here that she almost felt like sweating! "It should be colder… Like, a _lot_ colder."

Given her team was currently mounded against one door, and Juniper against the _other_, she climbed into the copilot's seat to get a look outside and blinked in surprise.

"The frick…?" She murmured, reaching back and to the side to shake Maria's shoulder and for once not caring for how rough she was being with the old woman. "Mariaaaa. Wake up, weird stuff is happening and I need to know if it's my eyes."

"Mph, why would you think it's your eyes?"

"Cuz I don't remember us landing in a _city_." She responded pointedly, waking up faster as adrenaline driven by surprise at her surroundings began to filter into her blood. Normally, a little confusion probably wouldn't have done that to someone, but between the Apathy, Ozpin's secret keeping and everything else, surprises in and of themselves were enough to push her into combat mode. "And definitely not a big one like this… Or in this state. How big was the island?"

"Just a bit bigger than you could spit." The woman grumbled as she rose and shuffled into her seat, flicking switches on her eyes to presumably turn them on. "Why do you ask- Oh… Oh my."

"Yeah…" Ruby grimaced, "Oh my."

At some point, and _somehow_ that she would look into later, the Atlesian gunship had found its way on top of a roof. And not one that looked to be in the best state, either. A corner had seemingly long since collapsed, brick hanging in places where it was still somehow attached either by cable, other brick or whatever else that kept it on the heavy red girders. A door down into the building was in a similar state, the lower half cracked and falling to pieces while it hung off hinges choked by vines covered in little yellow flowers. Old conditioning units, or what she assumed to be them, and ventilating tubes were similarly broken, rusted or clogged with vines.

Around them more buildings in similar, or somehow _worse_ though Ruby had to blink at considering that with how their roof looked, condition stretched on for what looked like an eternity. Eventually, the green overwhelming the buildings, rubble and what roads she could make out almost gave her the impression of some kind of forest. The rusted metal, spot of shining glass, and exposed girders of course ruined that illusion, but the staggering amount of green in the ruins astounded her.

"Even Mountain Glenn hadn't had this much growing on it…" It had, in fact, been surprisingly bare and bleak considering it had been left to nature's grip. Though she chalked some of that up to its artificial height and structure. "Maria what- Where are we?"

"I… Have no idea." The woman answered, mouth agape for a moment before she grit her jaw and strapped herself in. "But we are leaving. Right now. Get everyone up and ready in case something-"

A loud screech suddenly sounded from far in front of them, before being echoed around and below them from a hundred similar sounding mouths. It came on violently, suddenly, and piercingly enough that Ruby could hear her team reacting. Across the road, she caught a glimpse of something humanoid and green in a window before several more like it joined the creature and they slammed against the glass of some kind of flat.

Monsters like something out of a horror movie tumbled out into the air and fell from view, and Maria finally finished her statement, "...happens. Everyone up, up, up! It'll take just a couple seconds to warm this baby up, but be ready in case whatever Grimm those were come up here!"

"_Where_ is _here_?!" Ruby heard Weiss shriek almost loudly and shrilly enough to match the Grimm outside. The Schnee, hair matted and disordered from sleep, joined Ruby in leaning against the two piloting seats while Qrow climbed into his own. "I don't remember setting down in a _city_!"

"Well, you kind of went to sleep before we landed, so…" Maria trailed off as the ship flickered to life and her hand found the control, her other connecting her eyes to the ship's systems like she'd done at Argus. "Fifteen seconds before we start moving, but I'm getting motion under us and… Well, everywhere, really. And a lot of it."

"Grimm?" Her sister asked, the sound of Ember Celica chambering reaching Ruby's ears as the eight Hunters began to equip themselves while Qrow and Maria ran through starting the ship up.

"I mean, obviously." Maria droned tiredly, earning _several _eye rolls around them. "And oh look! I see a couple out the window and they are _very much_ not Human!"

True enough, Ruby caught sight of several of the odd green Grimm pulling themselves onto the roof in front of them. One lost its grip and it fell back with a chunk of bricks, but that didn't dissuade them. Soon, four were clambering towards the ship, shrieking all the while. Bangs along the roof told her more had mounted the back and, doubtless, the wings as well, though they didn't seem to be smashing it as much as looking for a way in.

"Sis, Weiss, Jaune and I out first." Ruby ordered, giving the disarmed Blake an apologetic smile as they parted into duos and moved to the doors. Jaune and Yang each grabbed a handle and turned to look at her, waiting for a command, and she began rattling off orders, "Get 'em off the ship. Maria, get it in the air and moving, and swing around to pick us up when you can. Oscar, Blake if you can, and Nora, keep them off the hull while it's moving."

Various forms of 'Got it' echoed around the confines of the craft as they took a breath before the fighting, and then Ruby raised her voice and ordered, "Out you get!"

The first thing she saw was a hideous, green, wart covered face that screamed 'Zombie' to her on a deep and primal level. So she took it and ran with it, Crescent Rose snapping up in its compact rifle form to blast its head off. The crack of the rifle was a cue to combat, apparently, and Weiss stabbed out beside her to sever first the groping arm of another and then weave down with the motion and around to take its head off. Ruby was out inside the same breath, rifle cracking twice as she swung it out and to the side, perforating Grimm skulls as her weapon unfolded to its massive, deadly glory.

Spinning it beside her as she advanced, she closed on the first of several rushing creatures who, while faster than the first, proved just as susceptible to a six foot scythe blade. Cut in half, they fell aside as Weiss gave her space, her glyphs letting her float up and away to rain shards of long, needle-like ice down on several of the monsters flanking her. One lunged towards her legs and Ruby's scythe came up and then down, punching down through its back as she cartwheeled over the top of the scythe's grip and laid across it, feet against the blade facing towards the roof as another group clambered up.

With a crack, she sent one sprawling from the roof and soared back, landing with her feet against the hull over the open door and swinging her baby behind her, barrel pointed skyward, "Weiss!"

"Got it." Her partner called out as a black glyph spun to life under her feet to lock her into place and the Schnee landed above her partner's feet.

With a flourish and a spin of Myrtenaster's cylinder, a wave of fire roiled ahead of her and lit several of the creatures on fire. They fell with shrieks and hisses but more kept coming and Ruby, still standing horizontally from her partner's glyph, swung Crescent Rose around to start lining up shots. With each crack, limbs flew free and the creatures fell in rapid succession.

"Aaand we're moving!" Maria warned as the craft lifted off the ground and the two small women leapt off the hull. Four more Grimm sought to take advantage of their landing but Weiss just spun on her heel, a wall of sharp ice springing to life for them to impale themselves on. "I still have friends on my windshield, though, so _moving_ is a bit of a thing right now! A little help?"

"Ren!" She'd kept the young man in reserve for a reason and now, he leapt onto the roof of the ship and drew his Stormflowers free. Long bursts sent the creatures tumbling from the nose and tail of the craft as he turned, alternating his fire as needed, and Ruby added. "Weiss, up there, hold him down. Nora, take Weiss' spot!"

"Got it." Weiss barked, leaping high and landing upside down with a surface glyph to let her join Ren, her back pressed to his. "I will have to concentrate with the ship moving. Cover me?"

"Got it." The young man nodded, standing over her as she knelt and the black glyph spun to life. "Masking the ship would be a _very_ good idea, once we're away, too!"

"Jaune?"

"I can do it." Jaune called back, pausing to crush a lunging Zombie's skull with the edge of his shield and then cut a following one's arms and then head free. "I mean, if Weiss can hold three of us up there, that is."

"I cannot." She answered simply, "Get in the ship, we'll join you in a minute."

"Uh, that leaves…" Blake, who was unarmed aside from a broken pistol, Ruby didn't say.

"I can use a longsword." She called out, taking the weapon as Jaune turned and she leapt into the fray, spinning, leaping and cutting with ease. "Gambol Shroud had one kind of like it incorporated. Remember?"

Leaving the four of them to defend themselves, unable to pull away without replacements unless they wanted the steady tide of Grimm to drag them down, the craft lifted away and pulled into the sky. Ruby didn't watch them go, though, too busy spinning Crescent Rose at her side and alternating chopping, blasting and occasionally even _kicking_ Grimm away. All the while Nora crushed and batted entire clusters with ease and a giggle, sending them back the way they came in hilariously spinning rag dolls.

But the tide never seemed to slow, and soon, her arms began to burn in that familiar, almost pleasant feeling of a long fight.

"Get ready for pick up!" Maria called out over the ship's external speakers, the words almost lost beyond their blasts, cracks and shouts.

From ahead of the way Ruby was facing, the craft came in for a landing, with a severe lack of rooftop Hunters. As it came to a stop and the door opened courtesy of Oscar, she caught sight of Ren kneeling with Jaune's hand on his shoulder. A moment before a quartet of the Grimm turned towards them, hissing and chittering their fury as they made to charge.

"Guys!" Crescent Rose spun as she did, the Huntress kneeling to crack off shots into the backs of the creatures.

Seeing Ren's Semblance fail, the two leapt to defend the door alongside Oscar, beating back the creatures as Maria pulled the ship away and hovered over the street. Their gambit ruined, the group began slowly cutting their way towards the edge of the roof, and closing ranks as they did, to escape the old fashioned way.

Also known as 'jumping and hoping not to get eaten', but hey, that was the job.

"Gah!" She heard Blake cry out a moment before the Faunus sailed past her and into Nora's legs, the woman falling back over her as Magnhild fell to the rooftop with a heavy clang. The Faunus rose, clutching her evidently still aching side, and pointed with her borrowed weapon, "A big one!"

"Nora, Blake, take over." Ruby ordered as she turned and leapt into the air, Crescent Rose cracking a shot that ended a monster as it launched her towards where she saw her sister fighting a larger one of the creatures.

Like the others, this one was human-_ish_, and covered in green warts that oozed slime. Unlike them, though, it was almost ten feet tall and easily three wide, and covered in thick slabs of chunky meat that acted as armor against Yang's buckshot blasts. Its meaty fist came up and down, crunching the metal of an air unit as Yang dodged to the side, but the pummeling blows she rapid-fired into its gut didn't seem to do anything.

Crescent Rose catching it by the throat and lopping its head off, though, managed a decent effect.

"Thanks, sis." Yang called out, sliding towards a Zombie and caving its skull in. It fell and added to the growing piles steadily building up and she called out, "Noticing a distinct _lack_ of evaporating here, guys!"

"Me too." Ruby called back, spinning her scythe on alternating sides as she closed on and then cut down more of the monsters. "We'll worry about that later. Keep fighting!"

With no end to their numbers in sight, and no room for Maria to land or do anything more than let Ren add his fire to their efforts from the door, it was all they could do. Several leapt out of the building across from theirs, the one on Maria's other side, but Weiss was already on top of the craft. Black glyphs flickered to life, flicked them aside and then died as fast as she needed and the tip of Myrtenaster moved.

With each one that fell, more kept coming, but they could press on through it.

_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

"I have reached the source of the energy you detected." Pratal Mox spoke into the ether, knowing that Central would be listening through the open channel of the communication frequency he'd been given. Behind him, a pair of X-COM soldiers knelt, hiding behind an old, ruined couch and watching the door to the small apartment they'd come in through while he watched outside. "I see no Advent forces anywhere near us, for the moment, though that shall likely change soon."

"I'm assuming that's because of the gunfire I'm hearing." Bradford responded dryly, "You say that you _don't_ see Advent?"

"None at all, Central." He answered, quickly detailing the smattering of colors, and weapons, he saw as fast as he could. "They appear young, and I sense no psionics at play in spite of their… Strange abilities. Their weapons are also strange, and though they are in the center of the dead city, they don't appear to know how to combat the Lost."

"I'll say." James, the large, _very_ British rifleman that had been tasked to meet him chipped in oh-so-helplfully, his rifle slung across his very broad chest while he watched the door. "Even I know all that bloody shootin' is just gonna draw the blighters down on their heads. Not to mention the damn engine whining out there!"

"Only because you were told when you arrived that was the case." Outrider murmured, only speaking loud enough to be heard over the fighting outside and below them. She was a Reaper, garbed head to toe in black like her compatriot was in brown and grey flak armor, and the only other human that was supposed to meet with him. "Before that, you had come screaming in with your little ship, and nearly shot the first Lost you saw."

"Yeah, yeah…" The man waved her off, checking the straps of his old, apparently 'standard' once upon a time, X-COM armor. "Brief didn't mention much about the damn green gits, since X-COM didn't fight 'em much."

"An oversight on my part." He spoke, taking what blame was on the Reapers from their shoulders and turning back to watch the fighting calmly. "I apologize. And am thankful none were killed as a result of you firing and calling that Advent patrol down on our heads."

He was stocky, heavily armored, and genetically altered to be both of these things. His white armor was custom made out of old, scavenged Advent gear, and his personal defense weapon was small. Easily maneuvered and accurate, it suited his rapid relocation and brutal closing strikes just fine.

Outrider, conversely, was lithe, small of frame and sharp-eyed, with little more than a long leather coat and leather for protection. She, like Pratal Mox himself, preferred to move fast and hit hard. Though she preferred to strike hard from long range and move on to the next place to hide, while he preferred to stick and brawl, as a Skirmisher was wont to do.

Their last was a man that was broad but not stocky, and tall but not large, with pale skin where Pratal could see it and the rest covered in old flak armor, cloth wrappings along his forearms, and heavy gloves. An old helmet with a blackened riot visor attached hid most of his face aside from a stubby beard. All of it was simply screaming of a man hiding who he was, though the old, weather symbol of X-COM was clearly visible to all. The rifle was much the same, albeit with a litany of scratches covering every surface in clear lines meant to denote 'kills'.

One representative from all sides had been the arrangement, after all, and so they had come. He from the Skirmishers, she from the Reapers, and their newest addition very clearly from the newly active X-COM. Which begged the question of who _these_ were, since three of the four major resistance factions were present, and they certainly didn't feel like Templars. He'd have sensed their Psionics at work if they had been, assuming the purple hadn't ruined that surprise well ahead of time.

"Options?" Central asked over the line, "Firebrand is overhead and high, and we have a feed from her. If something isn't done, they'll be overwhelmed."

"Leaving them is one." Outrider pointed out, receiving only glares from himself and the Human present. She shrugged and didn't defend herself, simply grunting, "What? I'm not wrong."

"Outrider and I can lend long range fire from the roof." James spoke, idly drawing one of his spare magazines and weighing it in a hand to check its contents. A reasonable concern, with the state of things. "If he doesn't mind a scrap, Mox here can zip over and support. Firebrand can grab the girls off that death trap of a roof, then us, and we zip away with the white ship on our tail, assumin' they have some way of talkin'."

"Mox?"

"I have no disagreements, and agree heartily." The Skirmisher responded shortly, standing and rolling his shoulders. "I will not wait on the long range support, however. They need to know our plans. What of you, Reaper?" He got no response, the woman having already left to head for the roof, and the Skirmisher chuckled. "As though you would have ever left them behind."

Smashing the window while James jogged to catch up to the woman, he clambered out onto the edge of the crumbling structure with his Kal on his waist. His gauntlet hissed and clicked as its hook shot forth into the back of a Brute climbing onto the other roof and he zipped over to the unfortunate, grabbing hold and burying the hooks of his claws in its skull with practiced ease. Rolling off it as it fell, he came up and turned, Kal barking short bursts of fire that perforated skulls, necks and knees as he backed away towards the women.

"When the ropes lower, do not hesitate." He spoke loudly when he reached them, the woman opening their fold of melee to accommodate him easily. Like experts who knew nothing but fights like these, and breathed them as he did. The smallest there turned to him, great scythe cleaving a Lost in two, and he explained in brief. "My allies are rescuing us in their Skyranger. We will carry you to safety, and your ship may follow. Can you direct it too?"

"Left my Scroll on it, but I got it." The woman answered, turning and shouting, "Nora! Get back to the bus! Tell Maria we have help coming, and she needs to follow a ship coming to save us."

The woman didn't answer and instead swung her massive hammer up and down, crushing a Lost under its weight and perching on its head. Smiling like a woman without a mind, she shaded her eyes and it blasted, carrying her up and into the air, towards the white craft where she easily rolled to a landing.

He simply shrugged, ripped a Lost throat open with his claw and impaled another with his grapple to pull it in and do the same, and moved on to hold the ground.

_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

"Is that it?" Ruby shouted at their white armored, slime and gore covered friend as a sleek looking black and silver ship listed into place over their heads. The man didn't answer, but a half dozen thick ropes fell from its open back and she shrugged. "Gonna guess it is. Yang! Blake! Grab on, the cavalry's here!"

Blake was the first to turn to leave, using a weapon that wasn't her own and _knowing_ she was the weakest for it. As she climbed Yang turned to follow and the Atlesian ship pulled up and away, rising to join the 'Skyranger' at its altitude and orienting to match it. Yang's eyes met hers, then a fist batted away a Zombie, and Ruby motioned for her to go, spinning on her heel and cutting around them to clear space for herself and her new friend.

"You first." He ordered as he turned round and round, firing bursts of fire that cut down the creatures and lashing out with his claws wherever one got too close. Ruby made to argue, to tell him to go first, but he only snarled, "I will follow. We have no time. Now go."

Ruby knew he was right and collapsed her weapon, grabbing the rope and climbing as fast as she could. Which wasn't very fast, it turned out, the young woman _terrible_ at the rope climb both in Signal and now. But inside a moment, the rope began to retract and pull her up and soon, she was standing on grated decking and looking down as her rescuer zipped up to join her.

"Now we can get out of here." The blonde gasped, collapsing onto a seat and leaning her head back as the craft lifted and the large man turned, looking out the back of the ship as it moved. Seeing him not moving, the woman added a nervous, "Right, Big White?"

"My allies did not help us as they were supposed to, and we must save them." Was his only answer as he slapped a fresh magazine home and held onto the side of the open door. Ruby met his helmeted gaze but said nothing until they had risen high enough and the man swore in a language she didn't understand. "M'ortat ton! Assassin!"

Below, a woman with a long knife stood over a man bleeding and clutching his stomach, the former desperately trying to fend off a purple _thing_ twice her size. Without hesitation, the white armored man dropped the dozen or so feet and landed on her back, punching down with his claws as he did and drawing bright blood.

"Traitor! You finally decided to show yourself, did you?" The creature screamed, grabbing him by the helmet and turning, hurling him down and into the metal casing of an air unit hard enough it buckled around him. Raising her blade, the creature laughed, "That was a poor choice."

Carrying the bleeding man, the woman wrapped one of the hanging cables around her waist and began to rise without the broken remains of either of the two rifles on the roof, albeit slower than Ruby herself had. For the weight, she guessed, but that wasn't were her focus was even as Yang and Blake helped her up and into the ship. Their rescuer's hand snapped up, his little bullpup blaring round at his opponent, but the weapon was easily crushed in a hand as the 'Assassin' raised its blade.

And as Ruby leapt, Crescent Rose unfurling as she fell and spun, the blade whistling as she did and the girl shouting, "Let him go!"

"What?" The creature looked up and seemed stunned for a brief second before it leapt aside faster than even Ruby could follow. The tip of her blade bit down into concrete and Ruby knelt over her fallen savior's chest, eyes hard and staring at her opponent while the creature grinned. "Ah, and who are you, little one?"

"A Huntress." Was all she said, raising a foot as her friend rolled off the ruined metal and stood, blades of one arm extending. Firmly, she ordered a simple, "You go first."

"I will-"

"Go. First." She finished sharply, refusing to meet his eyes as Crescent Rose spun before her and came to rest behind her, the blade curving against the ground at her heels in her favored ready stance for when a fight was serious. Smiling thinly, she added a small, "I will follow."

Without a word, the man grabbed one of the thick ropes and rose out of her sight while the purple woman scowled. She took a step towards him as he left and Ruby twitched, Crescent Rose rising slightly in a clear warning, and forced her to stop. Or at least to stop until she fought Ruby.

"I'm giving you the chance to let us go." Ruby spoke simply, "I don't know who you are, or what you want, but let us go."

"If you think any of you are leaving her alive then- Ah." The creature's eyes widened and then grew foggy for a long, tense moment before she blinked owlishly. As her eyes cleared she smiled and stepped back, bowing slightly and grinning in a way that reminded her of the scorpion Faunus, all teeth and manic pleasure. "Since you so _graciously_ offered, I'll go my own way, just this once."

"Really?" Ruby asked, stepping back and off the metal to drop onto the roof beside a cable. A fast escape, if she needed it.

"Oh of course! After all, you offered, and it would be rude to look a present like that in the mouth. Besides, I have orders from my masters, and I don't disobey orders like your traitorous friend." The creature laughed loudly and shook its head, an odd purple energy sparking into existence around it. Then she stepped back and seemingly into… Whatever it was, tossing a final farewell, "I'll see you soon, _New Breed._"

Blinking at the term and her sudden disappearance, Ruby grabbed the rope and rose, letting the white armored man pull her up and offer her a small, "Thank you."

"Everyone sit down and strap in, we're headed home." A woman's voice crackled around them as the door closed behind her. Tired from the fight, Ruby fell into a seat beside Blake and eyed the wounded man whose black clothed partner was tending to him.

"Is he…?"

"He'll be fine." The woman snapped, more for tending to him then for any heat towards her. Her gaze flicked to the young Huntress and she grimaced slightly, adding a more gentle, "Once we get to the Avenger he will be, at least. I've seen men survive a lot worse than this, so don't stress yourself."

"You should turn your gaze to yourself, young one." The armored man rumbled from his seat, leaning forward with the knuckles of his hand resting on his armored thigh just above his knee. He caught her gaze and nodded to her friends who were similarly catching their breath, "Your allies fought well against the Lost Horde. But you should check on them."

"We're fine." Blake grunted shortly, taking a breath and straightening in her seat beside her blonde partner. The man's gaze turned to her and, feigning confidence while Yang checked over her prosthetic beside her, Blake smiled. "Takes more than a bunch of one-tap Grimm to slow down a Huntress team."

"What are you-"

"We can discuss matters once we return to the Avenger." The man cut across, before the woman could ask whatever she wanted to. She rounded on him and he gave her a small, curt nod. "You've a man to focus on tending to. Questions our betters are meant to ask can wait until they won't be distracting you, Outrider."

From there, the tired Huntresses sat with their rescuers in relative silence. At least, aside from the engine whines and the man's labored breathing while 'Outrider' tended to his wounds. A code name, clear as day, but she wasn't about to push the issue to get proper introductions in while she tended to him. The large man was right that she had more important things to tend to, and they weren't the ones Ruby and her friends needed to talk to, apparently.

So all she could do was wait, for now, and catch her breath from the fight… Though she kept finding herself drawn back to being called 'New Breed' and what _that_ could possibly even mean.

_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

_**So this is very much a case of 'Blame le Vampire over there' who super wanted this story to happen. So here we go on another crossover when I really oughta be writing Arclight. Lol. Oh well, I hope you enjoy, and as demonstrated here canon will be altered by having super powered fighters on X-COM's side. However, don't expect the Hunters to fare so well in every fight. **_

_**One tap zombies rushing them headlong is a far cry from, say, a Sectopod.**_


	2. First Contact, Part II

_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

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_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

"Stay where you are." A large black man ordered when their shuttle came to a shuddering, almost violent, stop. Ruby made to stand and the uniformed man, looking almost exactly like his wounded fellow sans the darker skin and puffy beard, rounded on her with a heavy looking rifle of sorts. "Sit down, kid. Won't be the first tot I've shot and prolly not the last neither, but I ain't hot for those notches."

"Sir, we-" Jaune paused when the man's heavy brown rifle swiveled to him but rose regardless, hands high and clear of Crocea Mors on his waist as he and the others from the shuttle slid by and found seats in the Skyranger under the watchful man's gaze and gun. "Sir, we just want to help, if we can. My Semblance can-"

"Dunno what that is, kid, and don't care." The man cut in, stepping further in and stopping with his knee beside Outrider, whose hands were still holding bandages to the man beneath her's chest. "He still tickin' or has he given up the ghost already?"

"He's alive." Pratal Mox answered, the heavily armored man standing and waving a hand at the two waiting medics. "And were you not delaying our allies by threatening our new friends, his life would be guaranteed already."

"They're unknowns-"

"Who saved my life from one of the Chosen. When even my own brothers would have considered me lost and withdrawn, a young girl leapt to my rescue." The man cut in, laying a heavily armored hand on his fellow's heavy weapon and, gentler, adding, "A young girl whose life you have threatened. And that of her friend's."

"...Outrider, Mox, get him out to the medics. The kids stay here with me, in the back of the 'Ranger and with weapons down." Again, the white armored titan made to argue, but the man lowered his rifle and adopted the kind of 'relaxed ready stance' Atlesian soldiers at Beacon had often held and that gave the man pause. Rifle across his chest and standing straight, but with his hand on the guard and gripping under the barrel ready to fight, he grunted a simple, "Central's orders. And the Commander approved of 'em."

"I…" He gave the children a look and then sighed, the sound odd and heady almost as it came from his helmet. "Very well. Children, I ask of you obedience and calm. I will see this sorted out shortly, so for now, do as you are told."

"We will." Ruby promised, giving Qrow look in his seat behind her. He nodded his approval and she turned to Jaune, sitting herself and ordering gently, "Jaune, just… Just sit down and wait, please."

"Sure. Yeah, of course, Rubes." The blonde agreed, always trusting her judgement like the faithful friend he was. Watching the strange man, he did as he was told, and sat back on the chair. "All good."

"Take him." The soldier ordered finally, stepping to the side and back down the ramp enough for the medics to move in and the two soldiers to help them. Quietly, Mox gave them a nod farewell and turned to help carry the wounded man off, while their guard stepped in to block the path off again. "Central said he'd be here in a tick n' a tock, so just sit and wait quietly like the freak said."

"Freak? What does _that_ mean?" Blake demanded hotly, half-rising in instinctive indignance before Yang's cool metal hand caught her by the wrist. Blake let herself be pulled back down, glaring all the while with her ears flat against her head. "Well?"

"Means he's a freak." The man shrugged, waving a hand towards her and grunting, "What do you think it means?"

"That he's a Faunus and _you're_ a bigot, perhaps." Weiss commented snidely, turning a baleful glare that Ruby had always been sure could ironically melt ice or snow. "A Schnee knows it when she sees it."

"That name s'posed to mean something to me?" The man asked, idly turning his gun in his hand to check something along the worn weapon's side. "Dunno what a Schnee is 'cept a German word and dunno what a Faunus is. Just know he's an Advent freak and you seem kinda sore 'bout callin' 'em that."

"One of your… Friends, I guess," Ruby couldn't find another word for it that wouldn't seem insulting and cause more of the problems she was trying to head off right now, so settled on 'friend', "they said that name a couple times. What is 'Advent'? Some kind of… Grimm, maybe? Or, like, some terrorist group?"

"Terrorist is right…" The man grumbled, turned to look back out into the little hangar area she could make out through the down ramp, and then sighed. "The hell do a buncha kids not know who Advent is? Kids like you, nice clothes like yours, had to have come from a city. And Advent controls basically all of 'em."

"Which Kingdoms does this 'Advent' control then?" Weiss asked, head angled to the side in the way of someone gauging a conspiracy theory on the side of the road. Though this one seemed more serious, considering the gun. "Mistral, perhaps? No, Vacuo seems a place for wonton, secret groups."

"W-What if they work with, uh, _her_?" Oscar offered anxiously, half hidden in the back of the ship with his - or Ozpin's, maybe, that was still kind of in the air - cane hed across his chest and Qrow beside him protectively.

"Who is 'her' exactly?" The man asked, helmet and goggles only somewhat hiding the veiled curiosity and sarcasm there. "Know a lotta hers we gotta worry about. The Chosen Assassin kinda jumps to mind, for one, a few cunts off in center Russia…"

"What's a 'Russia'?" Nora asked quietly, still tired like they all were from the fight, poor rest and the _second_ fight.

"Only one'a the biggest countries before the Fall." The man shrugged, masked gaze flicking between the children quickly as though suddenly seeing something. "Where you kids from?"

"Well, Yang and I are from Vale, born and raised together… I'm Rose and she's Xiao Long, but we're sisters either way." Ruby started, turning and pointing across and down from her at Nora and Ren, "They're from outside Mistral. Jaune is from a settlement called Ansel which is… Out in Vale's outer regions, right?"

"It is." Weiss nodded, answering for him but giving him a small smile and waiting for his nod in spite of her impulsive interruption. "I'm from Atlas, and Blake is from Menagerie. Schnee and Belladonna respectively, and Jaune's surname is Arc, though my dolt forgot to mention it. Qrow, Ruby's uncle, is from… Where, exactly?"

"The Tribe wanders too much to put a name on it." The man shrugged noncommittally, almost managing to sound wistful about a bandit's life. "Say Mistral and make it good. Qrow Branwen, formerly of the Branwen Tribe. Maria?"

"Vacuo, or close enough to say it at least. Maria Calavera, since we're all being so formal." The old woman answered, turning her gaze on Oscar and waving a hand towards him. "This is Oscar Pine, from Mistral. And you?"

"Agent J, from New York back 'fore the big fall. Now I'm from the Avenger." The man answered simply, a tone of sarcasm undercutting his words. For a long moment, he looked around at and between them before asking. "You know whatever code you lot are usin', Central isn't going to just let it go. Tell me first, or tell him."

"Code?" Ruby murmured, shooting Jaune a look and shaking her head, "Mister J, we're not using any code."

"And where, or _what_ may be better, on Remnant is a 'New York'?" Weiss added, "I assume 'the Fall' is in reference to the Fall of Beacon, but-"

"Okay you shits are committed, but so am I." The man growled, suddenly turning far more aggressive and rounding on the closest party to him, Ruby herself, shoving the barrel of his gun into her chest just above and between her breasts so hard it forced her back against the hull.

"Ruby!" Qrow rose first, hand reaching behind himself while the others did as well, Jaune surging forward to try and close with the man.

"You motherfucker-"

"Nuh uh, Jaune was it? See, I'm the one with a gun, and as good a fighter as I heard you lot are you can't take a bullet right through the heart." The blonde knight hesitated, arm across his chest, and his eyes flicked to Ruby's. At a small shake of her head to tell him her Aura was still low, he snarled and met the man's eyes. "That's better. Now, how about we try this again and-"

"Recruit J, stand down!" A commanding voice bellowed, the man flinching and actually, surprisingly, obeying. Stepping back and letting his weapon drape over his chest, the man pursed his lips and let his head loll to show his displeasure as an older, clearly grizzled veteran of a man strode into the cabin of the craft. "Correct me if I am wrong, Recruit J, but I believe the Commander and I made very clear the facts that these children were not to be threatened or harmed."

"With all due respect, they-"

"Were under protection pending review, with a supposedly trustworthy guard to watch them, per protocol." The well aged man snapped, stepping closer so that their faces nearly touched and he could glare into J's face directly. "Get out of my sight, Recruit. And be thankful if the day ends and you aren't being reassigned to Haven security."

"But, Sir, I-"

"Dismissed." The man grunted simply, turning away from the man as he left and offering a small smile for them. He reminded her of Ironwood in a lot of ways, from how he stood, to the aged but clear military uniform and cut to his silvering hair. "I'd like to apologize for my soldier's treatment of you. In the field, he's something of a hothead, so I suppose I should have thought his assignment through. I didn't think he'd threaten children and old women, though…"

"Well, he did, so you had better do something before I-"

"Uncle Qrow." The words had the man pause and turn to her, blinking in surprise before he grimaced and, nearly childishly though she wouldn't say it, scowled as he reclined against the hull. Rubbing the sore spot on her chest, she turned to smile at the man and nodded her head the way she'd seen Ren do sometimes, "We accept your apology, Mister Central."

"Mister…" The man paused, one eyebrow raised in confusion, before a smile spread across his face that he pinched off. Chuckling, the man shook his head and let out a small, more full laugh. "My _name_ is Bradford. Central Officer John Bradford, in full. Everyone just calls me Central because it's my job, like everyone calls Doctor Tygan Doc."

"O-Oh… Well, you know, I mean..." She flushed and then spluttered awkwardly at the obvious mistake, covering her face with her hands. "I was trying to remember what Weiss taught me to do so I did a dumb!"

"Dust damn it, Ruby Rose…" Weiss groaned, head in her hands and shaking slowly. "I tried so, _so_ hard but you are just impossible. Just… Ugh."

"Regardless, I need to ask all of you to kindly leave your weapons on the table outside the Skyranger and come with me. J was getting good information until he snapped on you, and with it in mind…" The man paused, and then grimaced, and finally gave a small shake of his head as he turned to give them space to step past him. "I have information I need to give you. But aside from security forces, carrying weapons is prohibited in the rest of the Avenger."

"You know you're askin' a Huntress to give up her gun after your man shoved her against the bulkhead with the business end of his." Qrow drawled as he stood again, shoulders sloped and hands in his pockets in his 'threatening you by not taking you seriously' kind of way.

"Qrow, was it? Right, well, I don't even know what a Huntress is. Just like you don't know what Advent is, or X-COM, or New York, or a whole host of other things." The man didn't blink at the taller man's answering, confused grunt. Instead, he turned and stepped down the ramp, calling back over his shoulder, "If you want to know what is going on, come with. Ten minutes of waiting and we'll drop you off a few miles outside that city and let you figure it out yourself."

The choice was obvious enough and, under Ruby's gaze now instead of the dark skinned man from before, each of them rose and moved to the end of the craft. Outside, the Central Officer was waiting with a wide, open table on wheels like the ones that Ruby had seen in Beacon's engineering workshops. Then her team hesitated and she grimaced, pushing through the group to lay Crescent Rose on the table along with her cartridge pouch and ammunition belt. Turning to stand beside Bradford and crossing her arms meaningfully had the desired effect and soon, the others were moving, laying their weapons on the metal table one after another in short order.

"Thank you." Bradford grunted shortly, offering each a small nod and smile calmly speaking, like he was afraid of frightening a skittish cat. Which, considering Blake, Ruby figured might actually be what he was thinking. "I can see that took a lot from all of you, and that means something around here. Your weapons will be moved down a floor, to Engineering, to be stored safely and separately from the standard gear so no one touches it, and your ship will be relocated safely out of the way. Once we finish speaking, if you decide you want to leave, you will be supplied and taken safely out of the way."

"Thank you. It looks like supplying us would be… Hard." He gave her a look, one brow raised in an obvious question, and Ruby grimaced. But she tried to explain, since she knew he was asking her to. "This is the landing bay, but it's empty, there's no one here. And you're an officer, but you came to see us yourself instead of… Escorting us to you. _And_ you only put one guard on a bunch of strangers. One guard for ten people?"

"You're… Observant, Miss Rose." The man sighed and nodded, "We are rather low of staff, I'm afraid, like you said. We're recruiting to work on that, which is why Outrider and Mox are here, but… We can only do so much."

"Who are you fighting?" Ruby asked, knowing that her entire team would want to know just as much. "That guy mentioned 'Advent' but, like, what is that?"

"It would… Be better to show you, before Doctor Tygan explains what we detected and the predicament he believes you to be in." He turned, finally, to leave as a wiry woman in scrappy clothes and with a smudge of grease on her cheek stepped into the landing area. Central noticed her, turned to wave, and finished simply, "Our chief, and only, Engineer aboard the Avenger. She'll take care of your weapons like her life depends on it."

"She better…" Weiss murmured, giving Myrtenaster a last look before waving a hand at the man and shrugging. "Let's get this over with, then. Wherever we are, I'd rather get answers as to how we got here and move on. We have far too much to do and you can be sure what we have already heard is the craziest thing we could have."

They were, it turned out, _very_ wrong about that assumption, Ruby very quickly came to realize in hindsight.

They were led through several turning hallways into a wide and tall room where a thin, well built and dark skinned man in a lab coat was waiting beside two rows of mismatched chairs. Wooden,old metal folding chairs, dining chairs and, in Nora's case, the rolling computer chair she'd had set out for her had seemingly been rowed with no care for matching. Weiss seemed to fume at it for a moment, but resigned herself to it rather quickly and took one of the nicer seats, offering the nic_est_ to Ruby beside her.

"Hello children, it's… Well, I won't say it's good to see you, because for you it isn't, based on what data I have to hand." The group's confusion on that must have shown, because the man sighed, folded his hands in front of his waist and spoke clearly and cleanly. "I believe that sugar-coating the truth of a matter is a bad thing. I believe that as a doctor and a scientist, it is my job and my duty to relay information as clearly, concisely and neutrally as possible to those involved. Do you all agree with the sentiment?"

"Oh yeah, we _definitely_ do." Yang snorted, tossing a look towards Oscar and giving him a small, somewhat sour grimace. "Just tell us straight, doctor."

"As you can see, this image was taken mere minutes before your craft's appearance." Doctor Tygan, a kind old man that had been waiting in a laboratory of some kind, finished an hour later. With his words, two pictures appeared beside each other cast by the comically old and were cast onto an old sheet held between two literal sticks.

As in, from the _woods_.

"Image one was taken by Firebrand on high recon prior to insertion." Central explained, the bare rooftop clearly the one they'd appeared on compared to the one next to it with their Atlesian shuttle very clearly there. "That, your little ship that is, appeared inside the eighty-five seconds it took her to come around on her second pass. And it coincided with a powerful energy signature that matches Elerium and Psionic readings from all of the dozens of Elder sightings we have seen thus far."

"I know this is hard to believe but you are… No longer in your own world." The man spoke simply, watching them and rapidly explaining, "Here on ours, our world that is, there are beings known collectively as 'the Elders'. These beings have been, for years, working on experimental technologies along a long and wide range."

"We believe interdimensional travel and communication to be one of them, and after the energy readings from your… Appearance, and your unique performance against the Lost, we are more inclined to believe that than ever." Central went on, joining Tygan beside the projector screen and giving the man a nod. "Play the combat vid, Doc."

"This was taken while Outrider, Mox and the wounded man you met, James. Our guns have mounted cameras for post-contact analysis of our ever-evolving enemies." After the doctor finished speaking, a soundless file started to play, cast on the viewscreen and seemingly looking down on them from a window. In it, Ruby saw Weiss flit by on her glyphs and then the weapon zoomed in on Yang as a heavy blow from one of the bigger Grimm crashed into her side. Then the video paused, and Tygan pointed a long finger at the creature. "_That_ is a Lost Brute, and we have seen numerous instances from our friends in the Reapers and the Skirmishers that show us that no human being can survive a blow like you took. Such is super-human."

"Flying around on spinning discs is, too." Central offered helpfully, giving the Schnee a pointed look. She blinked and sat straighter, tired enough that she had been relaxing somewhat before being called out, and the man asked, "Is that part of being a 'Huntsman'? I heard you mention the words Hunters, Huntsman and Huntress a few times."

"It is, yes, um, sir." She answered, taken aback but quickly processing the concept of being in another world like the rest of them were doing.

"Could you elaborate, please?" Tygan asked, voice piqued in curiosity, "We would like to get to know you, before offering our potential help. Or asking yours."

"You want our help?" Jaune spoke this time, asking from the back where he'd sat between his team members, Nora holding his hand anxiously. "With what? Those 'Lost' things?"

"And Advent, a malignant threat to all human life on the planet. And the ones who sent the Chosen Assassin, who you," he pointed at Ruby, "saved our new friend Pratal Mox from."

"She's Advent?"

"Yes, Miss Rose, she is a member of Advent. A leading one, in fact, though not a _leader_ per se." Tygan answered simply, he and the Central Officer seemingly pitching the role of speaker back and forth between them like a ball being kicked between players. "Advent is a force that created the Lost, which were once upon a time normal civilians. Now they are husks, demented and used as an excuse for Advent to play the hero while they hunt down the resistance."

"All while turning normal people into their mind controlled puppets." Central stepped in again, "Puppets we have to clear out to get to the masters controlling them. Before our species, our entire _world_, is destroyed."

"Or worse," Tygan added, "Thralled to the ever-hungry Elders and they Psionic network."

"The details will take some time to explain, but-" Central's words were interrupted by a blaring bell sound and the man flinched, visibly shaken by the sound and calling out. "Control! What is going on? Why is the alarm sounding? Have we been detected?"

"Negative, CO, Denmother has just relayed an emergency signal." A disembodied, static laced woman's voice answered, the words echoing around them. "We only had it for a moment, but it was tight band, open broadcast. The kind she would only send out if-"

"If she wasn't worried about being found, which would only be the case if she was being raided. Damn it!" The man paused for only a second before giving the young Hunters a look and a nod, "We'll have you dropped off somewhere safe, and clear of any Havens or Advent lines. You'll need to make your own way from there but-"

"No, we aren't leaving." Ruby interrupted, standing and meeting the man's eyes with two hard, silver orbs. "You were going to ask us for help. Right? Say that you needed us to help in your war. Help protect people."

"I planned to, but-"

"You said they made the Lost, those _things_, out of people." Ruby interrupted, grimacing and thinking for a long moment before sighing and giving in. "When we were headed to Atlas in-in our world, we were fine. Then we got _really tired_, and landed to rest. We woke up on that rooftop and… And I heard a voice."

"A voice?" Oscar asked, interested in _her_ hearing voices for very obvious reasons.

"It… It called me a 'new breed', but didn't get into it. And I dunno if the voice meant me, or us, or what, but… But these Elders brought me here, and that lady called me a New Breed." She explained, Central's jaw working anxiously as she spoke. Like he was suddenly apprehensive which, considering what she'd said, she understood. "I-I dunno what is going on with that, but I know you need help. And I'm going to help you."

"Me too." Jaune offered, standing and giving his team a curious look, "Guys?"

"You'll get eaten without us." Nora nodded, bumping her head against his hip affectionately.

"I'll need weapons…" Blake murmured with a small grimace, "Some kind of long knife or sword and a sidearm. Something with high capacity, impact doesn't matter much. I use it for stagger and combination."

"It would appear you have nine Hunters to deploy, even if all of our Auras are low." Weiss finished, standing beside her partner and smiling thinly. "Ideally we could rest, recover our stamina, but… Where we are needed we will fight. To the bitter end, right, Ruby?"

"Yeah." It was terrifying, to risk that, but she didn't want to know what they wanted her 'breed' for, and looking at the Lost and the Assassin… "We'll need our weapons, and, uh, a ride, though. And some food and water, to calorie load before we get into a fight."

"We'll do you one better, and get you some stimulant kits." Central gave Tygan a look and a firm nod and the man grimaced, turning and heading off towards a long hodgepodge of desks, tables and supplies to look for something. "Stim-Kits are used by our soldiers when they're tired, but being left out of a fight isn't an option. You'll end up with a headache and needing a long sleep, but…"

"But we can fight for now." Ruby nodded, knowing already that she would regret taking the stimulants even as she knew she would never consider not doing it. "Well, my team is ready. Blake needs a gun, though, and a sword. And we need to know how to kill the Gri- Er, the monsters that we're up against."

"Stimulants, snacks and a drink on the ride with me in your ear, then." Central nodded, "And I'll brief you when you see an alien, or a soldier, to make sure you can kill it. Does the blonde need a gun, too?"

"Nope." Jaune gave Crocea Mors an affection pat, thumb tracing the golden guard as he did. "I like the classics. Trust me, it'll be fine, and you'll get a hell of a show. My partner taught me how to fight after all. Even if 'here's how you get smacked really hard and grit your teeth' made up most of the lessons..."

The group laughed and that seemed to put an energy into Central's eyes, years melting away. Then he waved a hand and they started filing back towards the landing area, Tygan in two with a crate in his hands. Three battles in two days wasn't ideal, she knew, and she was sure the Headmistress would hide her for putting her team into it. But as far as she'd seen, it seemed pretty much normal.

And even if it wasn't, they would not let people die while they rested up, safe and sound.

_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

It was going to be ten minutes before they could leave, it turned out. The ship needed fuel and, without Dust, they couldn't use their own to make the distance once the Avenger was close enough. Instantly with the news, the groups had broken up and found crates to sit on, or used the floor, to relax and eat before the fight to come. Normal, for them, and soon the room was full of Weiss and Ruby bickering and Nora crowing about 'breaking alien legs and getting it off her bucket list'.

Because of course that was on her bucket list.

Yang and Blake had taken a nice enough spot beside the door they'd come through, sat on a couple crates close together while they ate. Soon enough, Central had joined them, handing her a blocky, old handgun he called a 'Beretta' and a hefty machete and then leaving to draft Oscar into helping get the ship ready. As well as making it _very clear_ they wouldn't be sending Oscar off to fight.

Which was fair enough, given he _was_ a child and this _was_ their war.

"These taste like crap..." Yang complained for the eighth time, sitting with Blake while she familiarised herself with the weight and feel of her borrowed machete with one hand and ate the mushy brown bars with the other.

"They do, yeah." Blake nodded, taking a large bite from hers to show how much it mattered. "Ate worse in the Fang, back in the day. Or not at all, sometimes. It's no tuna sandwich, that's for sure, but I would bet it does the job."

"Cuz they wouldn't have it if it didn't, right?" Yang asked, earning a small nod from her quiet partner. "Yeah… I guess you'd have some experience in the whole 'surviving with what you got' deal. And these guys seem kinda like the Fang used to be, from the looks of it."

"Mhm." No Adam, though, as far as she had seen. And given what little, they'd heard so far about the war being waged she wan't sure that was a good thing. For all his faults, he'd been a damn fine warrior, and that was something that the Fang would have needed had they been in a war like this.

"Hey, get outta your head, Blake." She felt the blonde's shoulder rub against her own, the skin hot against hers and serving as a good reminder of her lost jacket. "Start thinkin' too much about stuff and I'll need a shovel to dig you out of your own head."

"I was just thinking about Adam." Yang turned to give her a look, eyes full of concern, and Blake smiled and pressed her shoulder against the woman's playfully. "Nothing like that, don't worry… I was just reminiscing. You mentioned the Fang and being here, it _feels_ the same."

"How do you mean?" The blonde asked, relaxing back against the wall and scooting closer so the Faunus could feel her heat. "Never been in a group like the Fang was, the way you describe it, so… Explain?"

"There's an air here of a sort of hopeless righteousness that feels familiar to me, that's all." The kind of feeling that permeated a group who knew they had to fight the fight they were in, and knew just as well that they would almost certainly lose. "If we're here for a while, you'll get to know what I mean."

"Yeah…"

For a while after that, the two sat comfortably in the silence, with their backs against crates stacked against the far side of the bay. Across the landing bay from them, the duo watched Oscar, who wasn't allowed out with them, toting crates and helping a pair of engineers work to refill the tank on the ship. Occasionally, Ruby would shout encouragement at him, playing big sister after so long as the little one, and the boy would flush and work even harder.

It was a surprisingly pleasant scene, all things considered, and made even more significantly nice by what they were about to go into.

"Alright everyone, we managed to get a feed up for a while with holdout forces defending the Haven encampment." Central called, standing beside the lowered ramp of the Skyranger while the engineers finished up their work prepping it. The words had the probably desired effect of quieting the room down and beginning to gather the Hunters to him, slowly standing and filtering towards him as he spoke and the two soldiers they'd landed with joined them in the room. "According to them, they evacuated the camp and ran into the surrounding mountain forest of what was formerly the eastern United States. The woods are thick and the hills sharp, which has hindered Advent search parties."

"The good thing is that their air assets can't see very well in the forest, and short of burning it all down, they can't do anything about it. And that means a ground war." Which, as Blake knew from her history fighting Atlas, was a good thing. On the ground, two men with guns were by and large equivalent, while a floating fortress mitigated any amount of training. "Mox has volunteered to go with you, and so has Outrider. You will need to break up into three teams to rescue the operatives and survivors scattered through the forest."

"Weiss, Yang and Blake will go with me to wherever the fight is the hardest." Ruby was already speaking, turning to Jaune while Central watched, seemingly surprised by how instantly they all fell in line with her words. "Jaune, take your team and hit the second group. Qrow, go with Mox and Outrider for the third. Head straight for the evacuation point and get the civilians out of there."

"Firebrand will be on station to pick up the survivors and get them clear." Central added, almost surprised enough by Ruby's suddenly commanding presence to sound nervous. An amusing image, to Blake, though one she ignored as the man went on. "Be careful, stay wary, and everything will be fine. You will have to defend yourselves while each team and their survivors are extracted, though. There simply isn't enough space aboard the shuttle, so they'll be offloaded onto the Avenger before returning."

"You'll be facing Advent soldiers. Well armored, heavily armored, and brutally efficient when it comes to killing." He went on, "They… They'll look human, but they're not any more. They've been altered, heavily, and are under strict mind control to keep them in the fight. If you hesitate, they will kill you or someone else."

She saw Mox, standing beside the officer, bow his head and clench his fist at the information and her eyes narrowed. She never got a chance to say anything, though, as the man waved them towards the Skyranger and prodded gently, "I'd love to be more detailed, but we are out of time. Every minute wasted here while we're ready is one where people are dying."

Not needing any more than that said, the group stepped onto the shuttle once again, rearmed and ready for another fight. Even if her amber eyes were drawn down the shuttle to the hanging head of their white-armored companion, and her lips were tugged into a frown at how upset he seemed. But she didn't let herself dell on it with a fight on the horizon.

Or, well, she did of course, but she didn't let it show well enough to be called out.

_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

_**Juggling over a dozen characters? Not fun. Or, well, kinda fun but super duper hard. I hope it turned out alright, though. Apologies for chapter delays, though. I visited my family over the weekend, and squeezed out what I could between dealing with their puppy and my baby nephew.**_

_**Who likes watching me work on this, by the way! Even though he tries to help sometimes, which is adorable… And horrifying.**_

_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

_**Dandaman :**_

**But I **_**like**_ **Arclight, XD**

_**Mid Knight Moonglow :**_

**War of the Chosen presents enemies that mitigate some of the otherwise over-powered aspects of Hunters. The Chosen themselves do so especially, and since this will incorporate aspects of Long War and my own personal tweaks, it won't be easy for even Hunters to fight the Long War.**

_**Talon Scythe :**_

**Opin is indeed losing his proverbial shit, yes.**

_**Adam Safran :**_

**They do, but even the most powerful Psionic can't compare with even just, say, Weiss once she's rested and able to Summon. Also, Psionics were already a rare enough phenomenon and I intend to make it even rarer.**

_**Dragon Lord Syed :**_

**I won't be **_**adding**_ **ships but those I consider canon enough won't hit pause. One with, if I were to do it, say… Jaune and Pratal Mox will not start right away, but those from before will continue. This isn't a **_**romance story**_ **of course, but you get the idea I am explaining, I hope. Distracted by a baby as I am writing this, so forgive any mispeaking. **

_**Pokeman :**_

**I hope you like it!**

_**GXY-2013 :**_

**By all means, go ahead. The worst one can do is fail, and try again. Just have fun with it!**


	3. First Contact, Part III

_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

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_**If you want to be on the Supporter list, PM one of us for details or join our private server for details. Hope you enjoy reading my stories, please leave me a comment to let me know if you did, or where I can improve. Link here, where able to be seen : **__** /2UZncAm**_

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_**Betas : Ze Kaiser, Nope Rope **_

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_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

_**Twisted : I hate Snek and wish he would behave, but I know he won't, and so I am sad.**_

_**Snek : Why would I ever do that? Also as I pay your salary I reserve the right to add titles to me. **_

_**Vampi: Excuses, excuses, Snek.**_

_**Snek : Says the Loli**_

_**Vampi: I am not a loli! **_

_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

The Commander, an old man of German ancestry with newly gray hair, watched the sensor readout on his terminal show the Skyranger lift off, turn and then begin to sail away at high speeds. On a terminal beside it, sitting on a long metal desk that took up the far wall away from his bed, he replayed the battle-camera footage he'd been sent for the dozenth time. Strewn across the table's length to either side of the large central screen and smaller terminal were folders, tablets, hard drives stacked and papers all cataloging information he'd had gathered while the Skyranger was on its way home.

Grimm, Remnant, Vacuo, Aura, Semblance and so many other words he didn't recognize, all listed out and cross-referenced with their limited files on the aliens. None had borne any real fruit, though the middle-aged man couldn't chalk _that _up to much more than their lack of files with full confidence. 'Aura' had one hit, but only as a reference to Psionic research projects as a description of their shroud of power, and 'Remnant' did too, but again, only in reference to mundane items. This time speaking about the ruined city 'remnants' and the current attempts at renewal projects.

Nothing of worth, that would tell him who they were.

"Sir?" He turned his wheelchair, the wheels squeaking under his hands, to look up at the dark-skinned American standing behind him and watching him. Relaxed and comfortable, the man stood above him at a respectful distance with his rifle hanging across his shoulder by an old, worn strap. "Prodded 'em just like you said. We get anythin' worth the trouble, or just pissin' in the wind?"

"No, nothing useful to us, unfortunately." God, his throat still thrilled when he spoke, unused for so many years while he was in stasis. Like the neural damage done that meant he needed to relearn walking, hence his wheelchair. "A couple words tagged in the files, but they were nothing instances. 'Beacon' was a hopeful instance, but panned out to be nothing as far as I can tell."

"Hm. Yeah, was afraid of that. And after I went and shit on their lil' parade, too." The man sighed and, without asking, grabbed one of the fine new Advent-made chairs, dragged it out, and plopped into it with a long groan. "Say what you like, but Advent makes the best damn chairs. Better than before the War, even."

"Won't argue with you on that." he waved a hand and, without a word, J turned slightly to grab a little silver thermos and plastic container, handing it back to the Commander. With a grimace, he pulls five of the little white nerve pills out and took them, downing water behind to assuage the ache in his throat. "What did you think of them?"

"Lil red one is in charge, to an extent at least. She spoke up first, and when she told the blonde sword boy to sit, he did." The man answered simply, fingers drumming on the false, Advent-engineered leather seat's arm idly as he thought. "No 'Yes, Ma'am' though, and he called her 'Rubes', so military discipline ain't it. And she looks younger than most of 'em, minus the German maybe. So _age_ ain't it either, especially with the old broad and the middle-aged lookin' man."

"So remove age, gender, and experience in whatever a 'Huntsman' is, since none seem to apply." He ordered, absently rubbing his throat below a burgeoning beard. Soon he'd either have to shave it down or shape it up, he was sure. Regardless, "What, then? What could it be?"

"Trust. And probably earned the damn hard way, too." J answered simply, offering a small shrug and adjusting the worn old rifle across his chest so it sat more comfortably. "Whoever these kids are, they've seen some weird shit."

"How do you know?"

"Jus' a feelin', boss." J shrugged, helmed head reclining against the back of the chair comfortably. Turning his chair back and forth boredly, the man hummed in thought and, after a moment, elaborated for his commander's benefit. "Way they stand, way they fall in behind each other, and way they leapt in to save the freak? They ain't Advent, I don't think. If they're _X-COM_ isn't up to me, but I'm willing to say they ain't Advent. At least, probably."

"Probably?"

"All I got is 'probably' for you, Boss." The man met his gaze, then, and his mouth pressed into a thin line. He paused, then, and his foot started tapping anxiously. Like he was thinking, weighing some kinds of options. Finally, he spoke simply, "I'm only here because I think you can _probably_ pull this off. And that you _probably _ain't on Advent's 'roll."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, J."

"Welcome, boss." The man smiled, a wide and sparklingly white smile set against his dark skin. Whether he'd missed the sarcasm or not, the Commander wasn't sure it mattered. Standing, he gave the wheelchair-bound man a nod and asked, "So, s'next for me? Or you want me around to play the 'big bad wolf' kinda guy that warms up to the lil' shits over time?"

"Would you mind if I did?" Such a role was always useful in team building. That was true everywhere, and among the group of new arrivals, _one_ of them was bound to be the type to try and reach him through perceived barriers. "It isn't a fun job. Or one likely to end anytime soon."

"What else is new in this war?" The man scoffed, shaking his armored head and chuckling under his breath like a father whose child had said something silly. "Every damn job is hard as hell, and has no damn end in sight. S'the norm. You tell me what to do, boss. Head out to do the raidin' to bring supplies in, or stick around to work with the kiddos."

"Hm." It was probable that having him play that part would be useful, and he was a damn good infiltrator.

He could pull it off, and uniquely easily in spite of the several attractive young women among them. Those kinds of vices didn't attract J's attention, luckily enough, so Bradford - and now he himself - didn't need to worry about him being turned. Something uncomfortable to worry about, to be sure, but something he'd dealt with once or twice back in the _first_ war. The most loyal soldiers could be enticed away by a pretty smile and long legs, or a muscled form if that was their fancy, but such wasn't a concern for J.

Still, something about the whole idea irked him on an instinctive level… And he trusted his instincts.

"No." He said after a moment, sighing and shaking his head tiredly. It was pure discomfort, but a rational reason was readily available and he latched onto it. "We need the supplies more, and by the time we ever get _that_ fixed we'll have their loyalty or we won't. You're one of our best at getting supplies in and out of Advent zones, combat or otherwise. We need your talents."

"Want me to head out, then?"

"Yes. Head to the southern tip of the continent, start laying roots for an intelligence network and see about recruiting a few handlers." He left the details themselves to the agent himself, knowing the man knew what would be expected and how to get there. He didn't need his hand held. "Prioritize weapons, armor, ammunition and the like. I'll be running operations there, aiming to make it something of a hub, as well."

"So scavving fights too, then." He nodded, neither seemingly upset or glad to hear the orders. Neutrality was better than negativity, though, so the Commander didn't say anything. "That the list for the orders, then? Cuz if it is, I'm going to get moving. Probably take a week to get there."

"Good luck." He said, offering a small smiled and adding, "Lily has a little quad-bike set up for your use. A prototype, so you'll need to test it out and make reports."

"Got it, boss. Play with the flower's new toy, get reports back. Prolly leave 'em with supply drops." He seemed glad to get something more 'fun' to do, though, and smiled as he straightened and made his way towards the door. Over his shoulder, he called a final, "See ya, Commander. And good luck with everything."

He snorted in answer and shook his head, more than sure that luck was not what he would need to deal with everything, but glad to have it all the same. Luck was useful enough and, frankly, he could do without the kinds of point-blank fuckery he'd had to deal with up to that point.

"Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's call time. Firebrand is on final approach to the fleeing resistance members." Bradford's voice spoke over a line connected between his headset and a speaker under his long desk. Quietly, he rolled over and reached under it to pull his own old, patched together headset on.

"I'm here, Central." He murmured, as his long screen lit up with images from Outrider and Mox's helmet cameras, as well as an overhead view of expansive woodlands from Firebrand's bottom mounted camera. "Show me how you do things here and now, Central. I need to learn fast."

He'd need the lessons to win this war, after all, and he didn't play a game for any reason _but_ to win.

_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

"On final approach over the woodlands where concerned, on the north-eastern end of the old Appalachians. Old maps say the area of operation encompasses part of the old reserve out here, so expect it to be mostly wildlands." Firebrand reported, seemingly too distracted to care that they would have _no_ idea what those names meant. Regardless, the woman went on, "Woodlands are sparse. Oaks, maples, the like. Lots of thin trees out there too, from what I'm seeing, but dense canopies. Central, picking up the runners will be a problem in that canopy, we'd have to use ride-cables and that would take too long."

Ruby decided to leave alone the fact that they had oaks and maples here, too, and how weird _that_ was.

"Then we're changing plans just a bit." Central answered, his voice similarly cracking over the speaker system. The man's voice was firm, though, and full of a comforting kind of surety that had her team and the two soldiers with them all listening intently. "Instead of escort and evacuation, you will be handling a three poonged heavy assault on the rear of the Advent search and destroy lines. they won't expect it, so expect light contacts at first until they escalate."

"Escalate?" Ruby asked, glad for the little ear-buds they'd been given, their wire running down and pinned to the collars of their outfits. Leaving aside how Ruby felt it made them look like radio DJs, she asked, "What do you mean, 'escalate'?"

"At first it'll be riot and prisoner control forces as well as light infantry and simple drones, monitoring that part of their AO, which means 'area of operation' for future reference." Central explained patiently, "The rear hold line is around a mile and a half long, and your teams will be spaced along that. If you stay, then forces hunting the running resistance survivors will come back for you, which will take the pressure of the survivors."

"A rescue mission in full, then." Weiss nodded, the lot of them seeming more comfortable for the idea.

"Your roles will be to hit them hard, shatter their hold there, and release any captured civilians or Resistance members. We can't do anything more than that, and there's a good chance there are no prisoners, but look and send them running away from the AO." Central responded, waiting a short moment to see if they'd voice any questions or concerns. When none came, though, he moved on, "Your teams have been designated temporary code names, for mission security. Rose, you will lead Reaper Squad. Branwen, you lead Bird Squad. Arc, you lead Knight Squad."

"The names are fairly obvious…"

"As I said, Miss Schnee, they are temporary names and nothing else." The man responded, "In order, you are Reaper One, Rose. Arc is Knight One, and Branwen is Bird One. Assign your own designations now."

"Big guy is Bird Two I guess." Qrow answered first, either because he had less members or was more used to it. Regardless, he jutted his chin at Outrider and added, "Makes you Bird Three."

"Nora is my three, and Ren is my two." Jaune cut in, looking to each of them for confirmation that they were okay with that. When they nodded, he smiled and turned to Ruby, offering a spot of advice. "Sort yourselves as partner pairs, it might help."

"Two, three and four." Ruby nodded, pointing first to Weiss and then Yang before finishing on Blake. Each responded with a nod in kind and, finally, Ruby pointed out for Central's benefit, "We, uh, probably won't use it on the field though, Sir. We aren't used to it, so, like… We need to pay attention to the actual fighting, not our wording."

"Understandable, you'll only hear it from me and see it in documentation later, if we give you any of it. If you stay around you will get proper designations, but formally, we needed them for now." That said, the airship they were in jittered and tilted down, and view screens over their head came to life. On each was the same image of sweeping forests and old, cracked looking roads. "What you're seeing is a live-feed from cameras mounted to the bottom of the Skyranger. Firebrand will run a sweep over the line with her stealth field up, and then land you at locations she sees as easily evacuated and easy enough to land in-"

Suddenly and harshly, the Skyranger shuddered and jerked to the side, and the Hunters aboard cried out in surprise before bracing themselves and gritting their teeth. Pushing herself off the wall Ruby stood, looking down the line at her team members to make sure they were okay. Her eyes met Jaune's, arms around Ren and nora on one side and Yang and Weiss on the other, augmenting their Auras with his own since they were closer.

"Heat-based long range anti-air, they dinged the hull but we're fine. I have to pull high, though, and that'll make finding a landing zone harder." Firebrand reported, alongside a gentle shudder of the Skyranger like it was responding. "Going to elevate, scan, and hope they lose us."

"If they don't?" Ruby asked anxiously, returning to her seat and wrapping her fingers around an overhead handle so she wouldn't get tossed again.

"Then you'll pull back, and we hope that Denmother and her people get away." Central answered simply, sounding tired and resigned at the idea. He must have predicted Ruby's protests, or could see them through cameras she couldn't see or something, because he rushed to explain, "It's tragic, but the Skyranger can't be replaced and neither can any of you. We can't risk her, even for valuable allies."

"Were we to lose the Skyranger, we'd lose our ability to strike at the alien menace." Outrider intoned from down the line, far more still and comfortable after the shaking hit they'd taken than anyone else. Her masked face turned to Ruby and, she assumed, met her eyes and the older woman added simply, "_That_ would be unacceptable, and spell our doom as surely as anything else."

"Nasty pragmatism." Qrow commented, giving Ruby a look and adding a small shake of his head. With a small smile, he went on and added, "Nothing for it but to do somethin' stupid, kiddo. Somethin' reckless, stupid, but damn effective in saving the day."

"Does everyone remember their landing strategies?" Ruby asked, giving her team a roving look and _mostly_ getting nods in return. Or, well, nods and a grimace from Jaune, but she took that as an acceptance regardless. "Central, I have a plan, but it's… Kinda crazy, even, like, by our standards."

"Welcome to X-Com, Reaper One. Home of insane plans, crazy wins, and things that historians will not believe actually happened." Ruby sniggered at the answer and smiled, somehow relieved by his easy acceptance of a crazy plan. Normally, outside her team, no one liked hearing her crazy plans.

Even Qrow had needed to come around to it, and he was he runcle.

"Firebrand, do you know exactly where the anti-air is?"

"Roughly, yeah. I wasn't looking, but I can follow the line of fire to get a rough area, and if I fly over you should see the little fortification they'd have them on." The woman answered, banking to the side more gently as they came around. "Why do you ask? Have somethin' to do with your crazy plan?"

"Well…" Ruby smiled, giving Weiss a look, "How much Aura have you got?"

"I already hate this plan." Weiss murmured, but sighed as she stood and drew Myrtenaster. "I have enough for whatever various insanities you can come up with."

A few minutes of explanation and looking for the _very_ far down little Advent fort later, the back hatch of the Skyranger opened onto empty air. The wind howled in their ears, and the cold of it chilled them to their cores, but the Huntresses of Team RWBY stood tall in spite of it as they always had and would. Weiss knelt beside her and, distantly below them, a black glyph sparked to life and they leapt, falling towards and through it.

And definitely not shouting or screaming at _all_.

_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

Using the gravity glyphs to get down took around ten minutes, stopping and staggering their fall every ten feet or so along the mile high drop so they wouldn't hit a high velocity. Which gave them plenty of time to scout out the base they had to hit, luckily. Once they were close enough to actually _see it_ of course. Luckily, the heat registry the turrets seemed to use didn't pick up their small figures so high up, and they were left unmolested as they descended.

It also gave them time to collect themselves for the fight, though Yang just kept turning cartwheels in the air.

The building was set between an old look, cracked and overgrown highway and a far newer looking railroad that stretched North and South into the distance. The riad looked like it was poorly maintained, with entire sections disappearing into the woodlands, but had been pretty big at one point. Easily four lanes on either side, which was… Really, really big by Ruby's standards. Now, though, the paving was cracked and the road covered in old, rusted hulks that she was sure had been cars at one point, but now were nothing more than overgrown brown rust-piles.

Like something out of one of her games, after an apocalypse of some kind.

The railroad was much newer looking, with several yards to either side cleared of any brush and a train station built into the base's side. A heavy looking black train sat on the tracks, parked against the base and topped by a heavy turret on the front and back of the long line of train cars, but those weren't the ones they were meant to target. No, their targets were on top of the building, at each of the squat black thing's four corners, currently looking up towards the scan and scanning idly side-to-side.

Turning her arms and legs she curled into a ball and fired a concussive round of her rifle to hurl herself towards Yang, who caught her easily enough and tucked the smaller woman against her, holding her head near her ears to hear her.

"Go for the train." She still had to shout to be heard, but that was fine enough, and Yang nodded in response and pushed her away gently and turned to orient towards the train, blasting her gauntlet to hurl her onwards at higher speed with a loud laugh of excitement. This time, Weiss caught her, blue eyes so close their noses were brushing against each other while the younger girl shouted, "Land you and Blake on the roof!"

"And you?"

She only grinned and jerked to the side, spinning them in tandem and pushing Weiss towards the Faunus woman. The Schnee smacked into her back and the two wrestled for a moment, the Faunus surprised by the sudden hands and Weiss fighting for purchase. They soon calmed, though, and a Lancer sparked to life under them, curving down and off to the side to slow their fall.

That left Ruby to find her own landing strategy, but the Fall of Beacon had taught her a really good one.

She didn't land gently when she hit, using her speed and the long, spear-like point of Crescent Rose to punch down into a turret instead. Her Aura flared with the shock, her arms went numb, and her knees screamed out in protest when she hit, nearly crumpling against the hardened metal surface but barely catching herself. It smarted for sure, but the maneuver worked as well here as it had against the Berengel, the blade punching down through the armor and internals of the weapons like a hot knife through butter. It spasmed, chittered, and went still almost instantly and she yanked the weapon free, looking up in time to see the three other turrets rounding on her.

In time for Blake to land on one, bringing her borrowed machete down on what had to be its sensor, and for Weiss to trap the other two in mountains of ice. Blinded, Blake's turret spun to throw her off and fired wildly before it too died to Weiss, a massive blade carving it in two courtesy of her summoned Arma Gigas.

"Where did the blonde-" Weiss was cut off as a loud explosion sounded and a plume of smoke spiraled into the sky from the train a few dozen yards away, and she sighed. "Nevermind. So, what do we do now that-"

Again, she was interrupted, but this time by gentle sounding _whumps_ and red lines of angry fire from some kind of weapon. The trio dove behind the thick metal railings that surrounded the roof for cover, and Blake swore, leaning up to get a look at what was happening while the Gigas used its clear enough arm to cover her and let her see.

"The ground between here and the wall around the building is paved." She reported while red rounds slammed into the Gigas' arm and Weiss sweated, maintaining it as long as she could. Kneeling again to take the strain off her, the Faunus added, "About a dozen black-armored soldiers are coming our way."

"Black armor means Troopers. Mainline infantry, mind-wiped for obedience as far as we can tell." Central reported, his voice crackling in their ears. "Their armor and weapons are high quality, but they themselves are nothing special. If you're careful, you should-"

"Yeah!" They all flinched, then, as Yang _blasted_ up into the air, trailing smoke and grinning wildly. She landed beside two of them and they rounded on her, bringing their rifles to bear, but she batted them aside and slammed bone crushing blows into their chests that hurled them back and away like rag dolls.

"Or do that." Central murmured, surprised by whatever he was seeing of the altercation as Yang began carving her way through them.

In melee, she was the single strongest among them and it showed. Even after so many years, Ruby couldn't _not_ admire her sister's raw skill and power. Like a blonde hurricane, the woman flowed from one Advent trooper to the next. At each she paused only a second to deliver bone-breaking blows to arms and legs, shatter their weapons with blows and blasts of her own, or grappling with them and hurling them headlong into each other's fire or bodies, and leaving unconscious bodies in her wake as more emerged from the building.

Shrugging, Weiss stood and leapt over the wall with her summon in tow, landing and flicking Myrtenaster without even turning to her victims, encasing half a dozen up to their shoulders in a wall of ice that clung to the building. One of the troopers rushed her, aiming his shoulder low, and she danced around him with all the grace a Schnee should have, Mytenaster flicking and encasing each of his limbs in crawling ice. Her summon opted instead to simply swing its great weapon, using the flat to crush another half a dozen aside as Ruby stood above it all, firing her own concussive round into the developing melee to destroy weapons and stun soldiers for her team-members.

"I'm headed inside to search for prisoners, and maybe break a few things that look important." Blake told her before turning and jogging away. Ruby let her go, of course, knowing from experience how well versed she was in doing these kinds of jobs.

Instead, the girl leapt high and her rifle cracked, hurling her down to the far side of the group. She landed behind a line of Troopers and spun, sweeping their legs out from under them and flicking their weapons away. Each tried to rise but her great scythe sung through the air, battering them down again and leaving them groaning and clutching broken ribs.

One Advent soldier with an odd, rounded helmet rushed her, swinging a heft baton that crackled with red energy. Ruby danced away, spinning Crescent Rose between them wardingly as she looked for an opportunity that the dome-helmeted fighter didn't giver her, instead holding his baton across himself protectively.

"Advent Stun Lancers are experts at melee combat, and their weapons can, no surprise, stun people they strike." Central spoke in her ear, nearly breaking her attention but giving her useful information regardless. So she was sure she could, eventually, find _some_ way to forgive him. "I recommend engaging at range, or flanking him. But honestly with your durability, you could just trade."

She didn't have the time to explain the minutiae of how electrical discharges interacted with Aura, but instead spun on a heel and let Crescent Rose crack. The round concussed against his head and, stunned, the Lancer staggered back from the attack. She took the chance to dive in, sweeping the blade of Crescent Rose behind him and cutting cleanly along his hamstring, just deep enough to cripple him.

The man, or whatever it was now, fell with a slurred jabbering and clutched at the wounds. She offered a smile, mouthed an, 'I'm sorry' and took off to join her friends. The Troopers were already thinning out, some unconscious, some frozen in place or weighed down by hunks of rock, and others were soon to follow.

"Five minutes, then cut and run into the forests to start hammering the Advent hounding our people." Central ordered, sounding mystified and elated in equal measure. Presumably at how easily they were disassembling admittedly basic Advent forces. "But, well… Good work so far."

Grinning ear to ear and more than glad for a more straightforward fight, even if they had to pull their hits, she turned to call out the orders to her team. Each of the other two paused in between huffing, puffing and smashing Troopers down to call back and she was about to rush off to tell _Blake_. But before she could a thump echoed and the building groaned as it started to fall in on itself, the Faunus stumbling out the door with a shake to toss off rubble as she went.

How she'd managed that Ruby just chalked up to a black cat's luck and moved on, grinning at her own internal pun.

_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

"Advent could have sent them, knowing we'd welcome powerful fighters." Central warned after the fight had been won and Firebrand had picked up their tired, dirty companions and their stunned allies. "They broke the Advent lines and then, before the Advent forces could muster a _real_ response, with someone they couldn't brush off or smaaash through. I'd call it a milk run but hell, it isn't even that."

"Does Advent make a habit of sending their best fighters right to us?" The Commander asked, scratching at his beard idly and picking at his tasteless pile of vegetables with his other hand.

"No, but they do send Faceless infiltrators into Havens to spy and try and find information about us." Central offered, though even from his tone of voice the Commander was sure he knew how weak an answer that was. With a sigh, he seemed to resign himself against the line of thought and offered instead, "Either way, the girl said she heard voices. And that they all were suddenly compelled to sleep."

"Sounds like Psionics to me." He wasn't too sure how accurate the simulated Psionics and combat routines had been, but he felt safe in saying they were close. Or else they couldn't have used him to predict X-COM's responses, or the responses of the other nations. "And why would an infiltrator mention hearing those voices?"

"It would put us on edge to do that." And do next to nothing else besides that, Central didn't bother mentioning. Instead, he opted for a change of tact, and moved on, "For now, we need them. The kind of hitting power they hold could swing the heavy fights we normally had to avoid."

"True." He grimaced, though, unsure about whether or not the usefulness these 'Hunters' posed could be blinding them all to the hazards involved. "They are a devastating force, but that could easily be turned around on us."

"It's up to you, Commander. Whatever your orders, I'll see them followed." Central was a loyal man, it seemed, in spite of how long they'd been apart. He could appreciate that, definitely, though there was that niggling doubt that this was another simulation.

Though he dispelled that with the same logic he used to make his decision about the Hunters, that the aliens wouldn't mention things that would cause suspicion if they were tricking him.

"I want then inducted into X-COM's ranks, but keep an eye on them like we do any recruits." He ordered, Central snapping to attention instinctively at the tone of actual, hardline orders coming from the old man in the chair. "I also want physicals ordered as 'routine measures' to gather data on their bodies and check for implants or Psionics. Make sure every soldier here is alerted to that, and future recruits will get the same physical. I want zero chances taken with them discovering the trick, and looking for implants can only be useful."

"Yes, Commander." The man nodded, "Will that be all, Sir?"

He nodded and, without a word, Central turned to head on his way and prepare for the orders' execution. With a tired sigh, the Commander returned to his desk and the papers stacked on top of it, continuing to dig into files related to anything having to do with him. Why 'Avatar' kept appearing he wasn't sure, yet, though he suspected he'd find out soon enough.

_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

_**Yes, the fighting was incredibly easy, and will remain so for now. Basic Advent troopers are nothing in-game, in-lore and in reality against a Hunter. Sectoids, their mechanized units, and so on, though? Those will be dangerous. But like in the game, where the only time an Advent trooper is dangerous is usually against inexperienced fighters or when you make a mistake, Hunters are just too high class.**_

_**Very soon, though, they won't be up against just Troopers and the like. And THAT is when COMBAT tension will come in. Instead you get X-COM being sneaky sneaky shits. The combat tension will come later, as the Hunters are broken up into smaller groupings in ways that shall soon be shown. **_

_**XxX-XxX-XxX**_

_**Jatnat :**_

**X-COM rankings neither equate to real world experience, nor time spent fighting Advent or, before that, the alien incursion. Most characters you get in the first game were already well trained, experienced soldiers from around the world. They were still recruits, though. Mox will be established to be a Recruit too, as will Outrider. **

'**Recruit' in this context means 'new to the Avenger', not some weaselly kid picked up out of a town or something. And given how things go in this world, people are bound to be suspicious, aggressive and threatening. Not having those kinds in spades would literally undermine X-COM since psychic aliens and infiltration monsters like the Faceless.**

**So as seen in the chapter, there is a reason to his behavior.**


End file.
